Current Affairs for the Month (February 2018) – General Awareness Download

Current Affairs Month Feb 2018 – for Competitive Exams

1. According to a report by New World Wealth, India has been ranked sixth in the list of wealthiest countries with a total wealth of $8,230 billion. The United States has topped this list. 2. The Indian Navy has launched the third Scorpene class submarine ‘Karanj’. This submarine has been constructed by shipbuilder Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL). 3. Former governor of Chhattisgarh and Tripura, Dinesh Nandan Sahay died. He was 82. 4. Sharath Kamal has won the National Men’s Singles Title for the Eighth Time at the 11Even Sports Senior Table Tennis Nationals in Ranchi. 5. Malayalam actor Mohanlal and athlete P. T. Usha were awarded with the honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by Kerala Governor and Calicut University Chancellor P. Sathasivam. 6. Indian-American Adobe CEO, Shantanu Narayen has been elected as the Vice Chairman of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF). 7. India has slipped 10 places to reach the 42nd place on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) annual Global Democracy Index 2017. The index ranks 165 independent states and two territories on the basis of five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture. Norway has topped this list. 8. Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister, R K Singh has inaugurated the 7th India Energy Congress 2018 in New Delhi. 9. World’s oldest man Francisco Nunez Olivera passes away. He was 113. 10. India’s leading squash player, Saurav Ghosal jumped five places to No 14 to become the highest ranked Indian in the latest Professional Squash Association (PSA) rankings. 11. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Pfizer will set up a centre in New Delhi, to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). 12. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia released the book “Your Search for Happiness Ends Here,” written by Anubha Gupta. 13. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has inaugurated India’s first sentiment index ‘CriSidEx’ for micro and small enterprises. This index has been jointly developed by SIDBI and CRISIL. 14. India defeated Australia by eight wickets to win the under -19 Cricket World Cup for the fourth time. 15. Shabnam Asthana was awarded the ‘Times Power Women of the Year 2017’- Pune for Global PR. She was awarded by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Special Assistance in the Government of Maharashtra, Dilip Kamble. 16. John Hennessy has been appointed as the Chairman of Alphabet’s Board. 17. Austrian film-maker Stefan Bohun’s documentary ‘Brother Jakob, Are You Sleeping?’ won the prestigious Golden Conch award for the best documentary in the International Competition category at the 15th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF). 18. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated Numaligarh Refinery Limited’s Diesel Hydro Treater Plant (DHTP) at the Petroleum and Natural Gas exhibition Pavilion of Global Investors Meet ‘Advantage Assam’. 19. Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen defeated Indonesian pair of Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva to win the India Open BWF Super 500 badminton mixed doubles title. 20. America’s Beiwen Zhang defeated defending champion P V Sindhu to win the India Open 2018 BWF Super 500 badminton tournament women’s singles title. 21. Bollywood actress Bhumi Pednekar has been placed in the Forbes India’s 30 under 30 list. 22. Veteran theatre artist and pioneer of Children’s Theatre in Maharashtra, Sudha Karmarkar died. She was 83. 23. Niti Aayog’s Chief executive officer (CEO), Amitabh Kant has been given an extension till June 30 next year. 24. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India has remained the world’s fastest growing domestic aviation market for the third straight year in 2017. 25. Government has decided to sell off its entire public stake (73.47%) in Dredging Corporation of India Ltd. 26. Hardayal Prasad has been appointed as MD & CEO of SBI Cards. 27. India successfully test-fired it’s indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile. It is a surface-to-surface missile with a strike range of 350 km.

28. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Gali Muddu Krishnama Naidu passed away. He was 71. 29. The first ever India-UK Createch Summit was held in Mumbai. 30. RBL Bank has partnered with the government’s Startup India initiative and Invest India to launch InFinIT20. InFinIT20 is a three month programme where RBL Bank will provide funding and mentorship opportunity to 20 promising startups to overcome hurdles in the early stages of their journey. 31. Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the fourth wicket-keeper to effect 400 dismissals in One Day Internationals. 32. President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the ‘Mahamastakabhisheka’, the head anointing ceremony of the monolithic statue of Lord Gommateshwara Bahubali. This festival is observed once in every 12 years. 33. The National Meet on Grassroot Informatics- VIVID 2018 has been started in New Delhi. 34. Jhulan Goswami has become the first cricketer to take 200 ODI wickets in the history of women’s cricket. 35. Union power and renewable energy minister, R.K Singh has launched a Web-based monitoring System and a Fly Ash mobile application named ASH TRACK. 36. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has appointed PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi to the ICC Board. With this, she has become the organization’s first independent female director. 37. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed a fine of Rs 136 crore on internet giant Google for unfair business practices for online search in India. 38. Haryana became the team champion of the first Khelo India School Games. Haryana won 38 gold, 26 silver and 38 bronze medals. 39. Punjab National Bank has signed an agreement for information utility with National e-Governance Services Limited. 40. Grand Master Vidit Gujrathi has been appointed as the brand ambassador of All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB) 41. Justice Antony Dominic, was sworn in as the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court. 42. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz inaugurated the prestigious National Heritage Festival in Janadriyah village in the presence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. This year India is guest of honor country. 43. Rakesh Singh has been appointed as the private banking head of HDFC Bank. 44. Chetan Anand and V Diju lifted the men’s doubles title at the All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament, beating Arjun Kumar Reddy and Gouse Shaik in the final. 45. Petronet LNG Ltd, India’s biggest importer of gas, and its Japanese partners will invest USD 300 million to set up Sri Lanka’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal near Colombo. 46. Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) defeated Madhya Pradesh by 4-0 to lift the 8th Senior National Women’s Hockey Championship title. 47. Madhya Pradesh’s Mahak Jain and Chhattisgarh’s Siddharth Vishwakarma claimed the women’s and men’s singles titles, respectively, in the AITA Ranking All-India Open Tennis Tournament 2018. 48. According to a report by New World Wealth, India’s financial capital Mumbai is the 12th wealthiest city in the world. New York has topped this list of 15 cities. 49. National champion and top seed Saurav Ghosal defeated number 2 seed Nicolas Mueller to win the Vedanta India Open Squash tournament title. 50. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conferred the ‘Grand Collar of the State of Palestine’. It is the highest Palestinian honour for foreign dignitaries. 51. The world’s tallest hotel, ‘Gevora Hotel’, was opened in Dubai. 52. According to Deutsche Bank, India’s economy is expected to grow at 7.5 percent in 2018-19. 53. Veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy will be conferred with the first ‘Raj Kapoor Award for Excellence in Cinema’. 54. An Indian-born engineer, Vikas Sathaye has been awarded with the Oscar scientific and engineering award 2018. Vikas Sathaye is a part of a four-member team who has received this award. 55. Software Company Zoho has tied up with private lender ICICI Bank to provide accounting and banking on an integrated platform. 56. Karnataka’s Kishan Gangolli has won the 13th edition of the National ‘A’ Chess Championship for the blind in Mumbai. 57. Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New and Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh has inaugurated the ‘Indian Power Stations 2018’, an International Conference on Operations and Maintenance in New Delhi. 58. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the 8th Global Theatre Olympics on 17th February, 2018 in New Delhi. 59. The third international conference on pharmaceuticals industry and medical devices, ‘India Pharma & India Medical Device 2018’, will be held at Bengaluru from February 15-17, 2018. 60. According to the ‘Military Balance 2018’ report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), India overtook the UK as the fifth-largest defence spender in the world in 2017 at USD 52.5 billion. 61. President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the international conference ‘Agricon 2018’ and ‘Agriexpo 2018’ at Chandrashekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology (CSAUT), Kanpur. 62. Tamil Nadu has won the Senior Women’s National Football Championship by defeating Manipur at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. 63. India’s first radio festival was held in New Delhi. 64. India has Signed Loan Agreement with New Development Bank for USD 100 Million for Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project for Desert Areas. 65. China will host 2018 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit at Qingdao, eastern Shandong Province in June 2018. 66. India’s Aadhaar and Umang App have won awards at recently concluded 6th World Government Summit 2018 in Dubai. Umang App won the Best m-Government Service Award and Aadhaar has won the Best Government Emerging Technologies Award 67. Haruhiko Kuroda has been reappointed as the governor of Bank of Japan. 68. Odisha State Government will sponsor Indian hockey team for Next 5 years. 69. Six Indian Americans- Neil Davey, Ayan Mandal, Pranay Nadella, Vaithish Velazhahan, Kaamya Varagur and Monica Kullar have been chosen for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s prestigious Gates Cambridge scholarship. 70. Famous singer Asha Bhosle has been conferred with the 5th Yash Chopra Memorial Award. 71. Indian captain Virat Kohli has become the first ever batsman to score 500 runs in a bilateral One Day International series. 72. The State Bank of India will launch its Global NRI Centre (GNC) in Kochi. 73. Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the world’s third wicketkeeper to take 600 catches in international cricket. 74. Roger Federer has won the ABN AMRO World Tournament. 75. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its global partners will set up the country’s first integrated industrial area in Maharashtra with an investment of Rs 60, 000 crore. 76. The Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology will confer an honorary D Litt on former president Pranab Mukherjee at its convocation on March 4. 77. Crime drama “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri” captured five British Bafta film awards including best film award. 78. India successfully test-fired its medium range nuclear capable Agni-II missile from Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast. It has a strike range of 2,000 km. 79. International Mother Language Day will be observed 21 February. 80. Union Drinking Water and Sanitation minister Uma Bharati launched the ‘Gangotri Swachh Iconic Place project’ and ‘Swajal’ – a community owned drinking water programme -in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district. 81. Technology giant Google has launched a new payments app called Google Pay. 82. India successfully conducted a night trial of its indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile with a strike range of 350 km, from a test range in Odisha. 83. According to the latest report by non-government organisation Transparency International, India has been placed 81st in the Global Corruption Perception Index 2017. New Zealand has topped this list of 180 countries. 84. Second meeting of the Canada-India Business Forum was held in New Delhi. 85. India’s indigenous light transport aircraft Saras was successfully test flown for a second time. The first successful test was carried out on January 24 this year. 86. The Telangana Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Taoyuan City of Taiwan for better technology partnership in the state. 87. Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank began its operations. It became the fourth Payment Bank to start its operations after Bharti Airtel, Paytm and FINO Payments Bank. 88. Global Digital Health Partnership Symposium was held at Sydney, Australia.

89. A cultural festival ‘Ras Banaras – Swachhagrah – Bapu ko Kaaryaanjali’, organized by the Ministry of Culture, concluded successfully in Varanasi. 90. Mahindra Aerospace and Canada’s Viking Air have signed a memorandum of understanding to support regional air connectivity under government’s UDAN Yojana. 91. International Conference on Sustainable Biofuels will be held in New Delhi. 92. Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu has inaugurated Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) partnership summit in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. 93. Chinese telecom gear firm Huawei unveiled the world’s first commercial 5G modem. 94. Pyeongchang Olympics, the biggest Winter Olympic Games, concluded. Norway has topped these games by winning 39 medals including 14 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze medals. 95. Amit Panghal claimed his second consecutive international gold but the celebrated MC Mary Kom had to be content with a silver in the 69th Strandja Memorial boxing tournament for men and women. 96. India shuttler Sameer Verma defeated former world No. 2 Jan O Jorgensen to clinch the men’s singles title at the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament. 97. Michael McCormack has been appointed as the new Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. 98. Indian gymnast Aruna Budda Reddy has become the first Indian to win an individual medal at the Gymnastics World Cup. She has won a bronze medal in the women’s vault event. 99. Samina Baig, Pakistan’s first woman to climb Mount Everest, has been appointed as the goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 100. Union Drinking Water and Sanitation minister Uma Bharti has launched the Swajal pilot project at Village Bhikampura in Karauli, Rajasthan.